diff --git a/IPython/html/static/notebook/js/notebook.js b/IPython/html/static/notebook/js/notebook.js
index e71f451..f722997 100644
--- a/IPython/html/static/notebook/js/notebook.js
+++ b/IPython/html/static/notebook/js/notebook.js
@@ -2103,11 +2103,10 @@ define([
         this.notebook_path = notebook_path;
         this.notebook_name = utils.url_path_split(this.notebook_path)[1];
         this.events.trigger('notebook_loading.Notebook');
-        this.contents.get(notebook_path, {
-            type: 'notebook',
-            success: $.proxy(this.load_notebook_success, this),
-            error: $.proxy(this.load_notebook_error, this)
-        });
+        this.contents.get(notebook_path, {type: 'notebook'}).then(
+            $.proxy(this.load_notebook_success, this),
+            $.proxy(this.load_notebook_error, this)
+        );
     };
 
     /**
diff --git a/IPython/html/static/services/contents.js b/IPython/html/static/services/contents.js
index c52bd0d..2528b7d 100644
--- a/IPython/html/static/services/contents.js
+++ b/IPython/html/static/services/contents.js
@@ -83,14 +83,12 @@ define([
             cache : false,
             type : "GET",
             dataType : "json",
-            success : options.success,
-            error : this.create_basic_error_handler(options.error)
         };
         var url = this.api_url(path);
         params = {};
         if (options.type) { params.type = options.type; }
         if (options.format) { params.format = options.format; }
-        $.ajax(url + '?' + $.param(params), settings);
+        return utils.promising_ajax(url + '?' + $.param(params), settings);
     };
 
 
@@ -246,9 +244,8 @@ define([
      * @param {String} path The path to list notebooks in
      * @param {Object} options including success and error callbacks
      */
-    Contents.prototype.list_contents = function(path, options) {
-        options.type = 'directory';
-        this.get(path, options);
+    Contents.prototype.list_contents = function(path) {
+        return this.get(path, {type: 'directory'});
     };
 
 
diff --git a/IPython/html/static/tree/js/notebooklist.js b/IPython/html/static/tree/js/notebooklist.js
index fbc0091..58ffc4d 100644
--- a/IPython/html/static/tree/js/notebooklist.js
+++ b/IPython/html/static/tree/js/notebooklist.js
@@ -142,12 +142,12 @@ define([
 
     NotebookList.prototype.load_list = function () {
         var that = this;
-        this.contents.list_contents(that.notebook_path, {
-            success: $.proxy(this.draw_notebook_list, this),
-            error: function(error) {
+        this.contents.list_contents(that.notebook_path).then(
+            $.proxy(this.draw_notebook_list, this),
+            function(error) {
                 that.draw_notebook_list({content: []}, "Server error: " + error.message);
             }
-        });
+        );
     };
 
     /**